A pyrrhic victory?

Samsung won a court case (yet lost some face) today in the UK courts, as a judge has ruled that its GalaxyTab series of tablets does not infringe Apple's tablet design patents.

While the decision has obviously pleased Samsung - which is currently fighting similar claims across the world's various courts - this pleasure will no doubt be tempered somewhat by the judge's reasoning for why customers won't confuse the iPad with a GalaxyTab.

In the words of Judge Colin Birss, the GalaxyTab family "[does] not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool."

Put-down by humans

In more exact terms, the difference in size and thickness of the GalaxyTab from Apple's touchscreen slate, plus the "unusual details" on the rear of Sammy's tablet, meant that The Big A's patent infringement claims were rejected.

Samsung (unlike every headline writer in the tech industry) chose not to focus on the judge's comments in its prepared press statement on Judge Birss's decision, instead preferring to issue a warning to Apple that its "excessive legal claims" were harming innovation in the industry.

Apple, meanwhile, issued a statement that managed to ignore both the judge's comment AND Samsung's response. The iPad manufacturer stated that it was "no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad" and that it would continue to fight "to protect Apple's intellectual property".